Why do you look at it from a political perspective. It's like branding the people of the church because of some of what the priest did. You know how many Catholics there are in the world?
I didn't say they were; I said that apart from questions of what "the Church" means, there's an institutiomal framework that administers priests. You do agree that there's a bureacracy that handles management of priests, makes decisions about parish assignments, processes priestlt payrolls, etc., right?
From a religious perspective (which is how The Church sees itself) it is the body of christ. We can use our own definitions as we want, but it's an insult. That's like defining what it means to be a Muslim
to a Muslim even though I am not one, I'm just judging the whole group of Muslims based on what they did on 911, to name a few incidents.
With that, the "institution" if you want to call it that is based on the body of christ not a political business.
Not two or three. Hundreds or thousands. The article didn't give a specific number for how many priests, but it mentioned more than 4,000 victims so far.
Compared to millions of Catholics who have no committed abuse, that's like convicting my whole family line of hiding our "crimes" based on fifty people within the whole lineage that
actually committed crimes (literally did). Numbers mean nothing if basing your analysis on how the Church defines itself not how outsiders want to define it.
In organizational terms:
- any organization that deals with children has a responsibility for the children's safety. This includes taking reasonable care to make sure that abuse doesn't happen.
- the people who commited the abuse thenselves are guilty, but those who covered up the abuse or who found out about it and did nothing also share part of the guilt.
The Church is not a "institution" that promotes abusing children. That isn't in scripture nor is it in their doctrine. The foundation of their "organization," if you will, is not criminal in nature. Parents shouldn't have to be afraid to take their kids to Mass all because people who were Catholic or are not Catholic but bias against them figure over a 1,000 priest get caught doing X, so our parish priest would do the same. Hoppy Cock.
The second part, they are part of the guilt regardless if they admit it or not. As for covering up the abuse, I'd have to
know the details not go off new stories and bias opinions. I mean, they claim homosexuality has to do with sexual promiscuity and years ago that was considered a crime not only morally but police can get away with it by law as well. Yet, little ol' me is judged by how
the public sees these accusations rather than seeing it from the actual people who represent and are homosexuals.
Likewise with the church, since it is a religious "organization" if you will, rather than Church, you can go off the news stories and bias opinions. People do stupid things. I'm not saying it's a lie. Just saying you're looking at a handful of people without any regard to the actual Church/body with whom the Church represents. Even some Catholics don't agree with their own Pope. Others didn't agree with Vatican II decisions. Maybe the institution (cringes) is loosing it's place, but because it's a Church not a business, I rather see it from the people's perspective not an organizational one.
If I saw it from an organizational one, just put all the priest in jail.
For a fairer analogy, imagine that your mother was committing crimes, your father was covering them up, and most of your siblings knew but said nothing. How much of your family would need to be implicated before you acknowledge a problem with your family itself?
There's a problem with the people in the family. I don't define each person's individual problem as a problem with the whole family. Many cultures do the opposite. If one family is harmed, they feel the whole family is harmed. So it depends on your cultural outlook. Like my mother has been in verbal and physical abuse, my brother doised himself in oil and almost committed suicide, there's a private issue that I am going through, and I assume my other brother is going through as well. Though, I don't see our family as unhealthy. Only because we
support each other as a unit rather than seeing our individual problems defining the whole family. So, if our mother was committing crimes and abuse on us, yes, it's a safety issue; and, to me, if I was able, I'd
help my mother not accuse her of crimes and let people tell me our family is messed up because of each person's individual actions. That's silly.
They don't know us as a family-as a body-as a unit. So the situation varies.
With the Church, because I was part of the Church, I know the difference between what you are saying and my analogy above. Of course there are going to be some sore parts in the Church. I can't vouch that the Church covered these things up
and I would not be surprised. However, because I am not like half of the accusers, I don't see the Church as a political party. Maybe these people who hide the priest need to come to christ. Maybe they haven't gone to confession and need to repent. But that doesn't define the rest of the Church as a whole.
If we are to accuse people, accuse the individual person not the Church as a whole.
